Teel Time: NCAA alters bracketing rules for basketball tournament

Florida routed Virginia in 2012 NCAA tournament.

Florida routed Virginia in 2012 NCAA tournament.

David Teel

Virginia endured a 26-point beating from Florida in the teams’ opening NCAA basketball tournament game in 2012. Had the new bracketing guidelines that the NCAA unveiled Thursday been in place then, the Cavaliers and Gators would not have met.

To avoid annual and often rampant deviations from the overall seed list, the selection committee relaxed rules that dictate the earliest round conference rivals can meet. Made in concert with the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the changes are based on how many times teams played during the regular season and league tournaments.

Conference rivals that have played only once can meet in the round of 32. If teams met twice, they can play in the regional semifinals; three times and it’s the regional final. Previously, the committee did its best to avoid any conference rematches until a regional final.

For example, in 2007 Virginia Tech was a No. 5 seed in the West, Maryland a No. 4 in the Midwest. But since the Hokies and Terps played just once that season, the committee could have placed them in the same region, despite a potential round-of-32 rematch.

The new principles also state that the top four teams selected from a conference must be placed in separate regions only if they are among the tournament’s top 16 overall seeds. Previously, a league’s top three teams were separated regardless of seed.

“Since I've been on the committee the last four years, this is my fifth year, the one discomfort the committee had practically annually was the seeds and honoring the true seed list (we) put together,” panel chairman and Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman said during a media teleconference.

“It was a real struggle because we feel the seed lines are really important to the competitiveness of the tournament. The committee spends hours scrubbing the seeds. We'll take a stab at the seeds, then we go back and scrub every seed. We compare No. 1 to No. 2, No. 2 to No. 3, so on right through No. 68. …

“When you move a team off of its seed line, you're not only affecting that team, but you are affecting the team that it plays and the teams that it might eventually play. So it has a tremendous impact when we move teams off of seed lines.”

Case in point seventh-seeded Florida’s 71-45 rout of 10th-seeded Virginia in the 2012 West Regional.

The Cavaliers originally were paired against Saint Mary’s in the West, the Gators versus Purdue in the Midwest. But Brigham Young’s refusal to play on Sundays and other bracketing restrictions dropped the Cougars from a 12 to a 14 seed in the West and created the possibility of a round-of-32 rematch with fellow West Coast Conference member Saint Mary’s.

To avoid that potential game, the committee flipped regions for Florida and Saint Mary’s. The Gators reached the Elite Eight before losing to Louisville; the Gaels lost their first game to 10th-seeded Purdue.

Saint Mary's and BYU met twice that regular season, so even with the new rules, they couldn't have met until the Sweet 16. But the new guidelines would have precluded the maneuvering that dropped the Cougars from the 12 to 14 line in the first place -- they could have a become a 13 in the East, still avoiding a Sunday game, despite the presence in the East bracket of conference rival and seventh seed Gonzaga.

In hindsight, think Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers rather would have played Saint Mary’s than Florida?

Wellman said the new bracketing guidelines would have avoided a vast majority of seeding derivations since 2007. In 2007, ’09 and ’11, the committee was forced to alter the seeds of 13 teams, about one-fifth of the field, NCAA spokesman David Worlock told me via email after Wellman’s news conference.

All but two changes in the last seven years were one seed line. Aforementioned BYU in 2012 and Marquette in 2007, from a No. 6 to a No. 8, were the only teams moved two lines.

The NCAA began releasing the tournament’s overall seed list in 2012, and what follows is a list of all the teams moved. First the 2013 field.

Wellman said that due to Sunday conference tournament championship games, seeding changes often press the committee’s deadline for the 6 p.m. selection show on CBS.

“There have been times when the committee chair is walking out of the … room at 5:55 with the last decision having been made just a minute or two prior to that and going to the selection show,” he added. “That's obviously a bit rushed. You're making decisions at the end that are difficult.”

The ACC is debating whether to move its tournament final from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night, with a more attractive television window and additional rest for teams before the NCAAs among the benefits.

I asked Wellman if his committee experience with troublesome Sunday games had prompted him to lobby his conference colleagues for the switch.

“I have not, no,” he said. “We have discussed whether it would be feasible and advisable to move that championship game to Saturday night. No decision has been made obviously at this point. We did talk briefly about the NCAA basketball committee deliberations, but that was not a priority in that particular discussion as to whether we should move the game to Saturday night or not.”